Katie Anderson

The World Economic Forum has cited water crises as the top global risk for business and society in the coming decade. One innovative Dallas-based entrepreneur, who is on a mission to save water, has launched a business retrofitting kitchen and bathroom fixtures in multi-family properties which is help save 30 million gallons of water a month.

Set up in April 2014 by 31-year-old Katie Anderson, Save Water Co works with large commercial real estate owners and managers gathering unique data on water consumption and leakages of bathroom and kitchen fixtures. Originally from a small town in East Texas, 31-year-old Katie has a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University, and has fuelled her business by drawing on experience working as a commercial real estate appraiser, and four years at waste management company eConserve where she developed relationships and partnerships with property managers and owners.Bringing hard data to a critical issue that is difficult to quantify, she has assembled a team with backgrounds in energy, science, policy, agriculture and education, growing the company to 18 people.

Three steps to water conservation

Water conservation is often left to non-profit organisations, but Save Water Co. has successfully designed a for-profit business model around a non-profit concept. Using a three-step process, Save Water Co customises the most cost-effective way to lower water bills. The company guarantees savings on all projects and has achieved up to 66% savings on a property’s monthly water consumption.

A water review combines analysis of past water bills and a thorough on-site inspection to gauge leak and water usage data and identify how much a property could save through water conservation. All leaks and drips are fixed, shower heads and aerators replaced if needed and existing toilets calibrated (typically saving 35% total monthly consumption) or rebuilt. Each project is then monitored on a month-to-month basis for underground leaks or maintenance needs.

A World of Water

So far, Save Water Co. has addressed 10,000 apartment units out of a potential 600,000 in the Dallas market. As the business scales, the greater Texas market has a potential of more than two million apartment units. But the impact of what the business is doing could have ramifications for the whole Houston area. The Texas State Water Plan shows that the Houston area will need approximately 200,000 acre feet (one acre foot equals 326,000 gallons) to meet municipal needs by 2020. The plan assumes that just over 10% of this will come through water conservation, with the remainder coming from other sources.

Save Water Co’s data and results bring new hope for the Plan, showing it could potentially achieve 50% of the remainder deficit by implementing conservation programs in high-density real estate. In five years, Katie’s ambition is to have a substantial slice of the national market of 18.4 million apartment units. There are also plans to target the niche hotel industry which has 4.8 million guest rooms across the United States.

Save Water Co. is also aiming to become a zero-waste company, generating revenue from recycling all materials. A unique business, and the first of its kind to apply tech and data to the water conservation industry, Save Water Co. is pioneering a new business model to improve water planning and is at the forefront of effectively addressing the water conservation needs of communities across America